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How To Become An Alternatively Certified Teacher In Oklahoma

June 2, 2011 by Night Owl Leave a Comment

Some of us know at an early age that we want to teach. So we prepare throughout college and enter our first classrooms shortly thereafter.

Then, there are those of use who take a less direct path. Like me.

I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was seven. But then I writing sidetracked me and I ended up with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and several years experience as a newspaper reporter.

And that’s not all.

After giving birth to two wonderful children and spending 10 years helping work at home moms like myself start and manage their businesses, I realized I really enjoy teaching.

So I considered my options.

The first option: Go back to school and earn a teaching degree, either a second bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree. Problem? College degrees cost lots of money and I’m still paying for the first one.

The second option: Parlay  my bachelor’s degree and subsequent newspaper experience into a alternative certification. This option provided to be much less expensive, though it required some commitment and a bit of cash.

If you’re interested in becoming an alternatively certified teacher, you’ll need to meet certain qualifications:

  1. You must have earned a bachelor’s degree with a minimum GPA of 2.5 from a college or university accredited by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.
  2. You will need to have majored in a field of study that corresponds to an area of Oklahoma certification for a Secondary Certificate, elementary/Secondary Certificate, or a Career and Technology Education Certificate. You can see the list on the application itself.
  3. You must have at least two years of work experience related to the subject area of specialization if you have only a bachelor’s degree with no graduate work in a related area.

Does this sound like you? If so, I recommend you start the process by heading to the Oklahoma Alternative Certification website.

  1. Fill out the Alternative Placement Program application.
  2. In your packet that includes the application, include an official transcript from each college or university you have attended.
  3. Include a current resume indicated your related work experience and the date resume prepared.
  4. Include a $50 check payable to the Oklahoma Alternative Placement Program.

You will receive written notification stating whether or not you’re been accepted into the certification program within about six weeks. Do nothing until then.

Once you’ve received your notification, you can sign up for the Oklahoma General Education Competency Examination (OGET). This is a four-hour text that includes multiple choice and constructed response sections.

After you’ve passed the OGET, you can take the Oklahoma Subject Area Competency Examination(s) related to your field of study and work experience.

Passed the tests? Congrats! But you’re not done yet.

You must now complete an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation background check and a Federal Bureau  of Investigation fingerprint-based criminal history check. You’ll receive a fingerprint card that you can take to your local sheriff’s department for completion or to the State Department of Education offices near the State Capitol. You’ll need to mail in the card, along with the application for the Teacher Competency Review Panel, your current resume (again), a written explanation of why you want to be a teacher and a $100 application fee.

Yes, you read that right.

You’ll need to go before the review panel for an interview. But, as a former painfully shy person, I can tell you it’s not that bad. The panel consists of one person and the interview is short and friendly. At least, that was my experience.

Once you’ve been approved by the review panel, you’ll receive your license. Viola!

 

 

 

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On Teachers (And Others) Who Blog

February 18, 2011 by Night Owl 2 Comments

The blogosphere has been awhirl this week with stories of a Pennsylvania teacher who wrote disparaging remarks about students on her blog — and has been suspended from her job as a result.

In her defense, the teacher, Natalie Munroe, says that none of the posts were about specific students, that she thought the blog was private (or at least really hard to find) and that she has the right to state her opinions, even if they are not popular.

This is not the first time this has happened.

Back in 2002, another woman, Heather Armstrong, complained about co-workers on a blog called Dooce.com. She didn’t name any co-workers specifically and didn’t mention the name of the company she worked for. However, as in the case of Munroe, Armstrong’s bosses found out about her blog. And they fired her. She went on to become a famous blogger who earns her income from her blog.

If you’ve been online for awhile, you may have heard about “Cisco Fatty” who Twittered that he’d been offered a job at the computer networking company and now had to weight the “fatty paycheck” against “hating the work.” Again, the company found out.

Personally, I hosted an online community for five years in which members were allowed to say whatever they wanted. We would not censor them, we would protect those First Amendment rights. Because of the nature of the forum I hosted, members were anonymous, with no way for anyone but the administrators to trace them back to actual people. Mostly. We ended up with a situation where some of our members disliked another, and reported to her state agency boss that she was posting and managing online communities during work hours. Fortunately for her, she hadn’t said anything negative about her company or co-workers and her boss only cared that she was doing her job.

But this all raises the question: Where is the line between First Amendment rights and professional conduct?

First Amendment

So, what are those First Amendment rights anyway? In a nutshell, the First Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of laws violating freedom of speech and the freedom of press.

As a former newspaper reporter and journalism student, I’ve had freedom of speech and press laws and issues drummed into my head throughout my educational career, beginning in high school, and throughout my professional career.

What I learned boiled down to this: You have the right to print (or say) what you want, but you have to be careful. You can’t libel someone, for example.

I carried these lessons over to my forum and web hosting business after I had kids. I firmly believed that we should allow people to say what they want.

What I didn’t realize is, when you give people free reign in saying what they want, coupled with online anonymity, they often go much further than they should. Things people would never say to someone’s face, they will say online. You end up with feelings hurt, relationships damaged and sometimes things carry over into “real life.” In other words, when people start saying whatever they want online, and people get offended or hurt, those feelings often result in actions taken off line.

The situation with Armstrong and Munroe are no different. While these two women did have the right to say what they wanted online, they must still suffer the consequences for what they chose to say.

As I tell my children: No one can make you do anything, you can make your own choices. But there will be consequences — good or bad — for the choices you make.

Responsibility

So what does this mean for teachers? It means that while you do have freedom of speech, that freedom comes with responsibility. As a teacher, you are an authority figure in the lives of thousands of children. Many of those students look up to you and whatever you say will be taken to heart by them. Even if you aren’t addressing a student individually, any student who reads your words can be hurt by them.

For example, if you criticize shy students, any shy student reading your post is going to wonder if you’re talking about them, or if their teachers think the same thing. You know the saying: Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me? Not true. Words leave hidden wounds that take years to heal, if they ever do.

Therefore, you have the responsibility to take great care in what you say.

My Opinion

In a nutshell: If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t put it on the Internet.

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